There is probably nothing and no one on this earth that has caused my heart more joy, more tears, more excitement, and more anguish over the years than brothers. I'm not just talking about the two I'm related to, although they are definitely at the top of that list, as they're the ones I am most tied to and thankful for. But I'm also talking about quite a few guys in my life--some of whom are my true brothers in Christ, and some of whom I have for years prayed and longed to see become that. I have brothers I know personally, and brothers I more know of (a group which stretches to include some music artists whom I feel connected to in part because of their music). But for me, on a certain level, they are all, undeniably, my brothers. I care about them on a deep level, and want to see them become all they can be, all they were created to be.
God has abundantly blessed me with many awesome brothers in Christ over the past few years--men whom I'd trust with my life and who can make me smile just thinking about them. I count it an honor to be "related" to these guys, to be able to share some portion of my life with them, and to get to know them well enough to pray specifically for what I see the Lord doing in and through them. God is building some incredible men after His heart in this generation; I can vouch for that.
As for my two younger brothers (who are stuck with me 'til they die or I do), I may never have words for how deeply I love them nor how fiercely I desire to see them become the men God has called them to be. My life and my sister's would have been dull, ugly, and pretty glum without our two youngest siblings and their laughs and adventures, and even their snide remarks about being taller than me. As much as they've aggravated or frustrated me at various points over the years, they have helped shape me in ways nobody else could, and I count it among my richest joys to be their sister. Greater things are yet to come in both my brothers' lives, and I cannot wait to see it all unfold.
There are also guys I've either grown up with or come to know at some point along the way, whom I've specifically felt called to pray for. I don't believe God puts anyone on your heart for no reason. Because of that, my heart will continue to cry out for them to see Him, to know Him, to yield up their lives and find that real life begins at that point of surrender, that the plans God has for them are so much bigger and greater and harder and infinitely more worthwhile than anything anyone but Him could ever dream up. I can't pretend my heart doesn't often break when I see or think of these guys, whom in my book are still brothers though they may be distant from our Father; but beyond the pain of hurting for where they're at, I see hope. I see potential, because I know God didn't put them on this earth for nothing, any more than He laid them on my heart for no reason.
I fight for my brothers. I don't just pray for them soft and sweet. Sure, maybe I do at times, but for the most part, when I'm praying for any of my brothers, there's this sort of growl that rises up inside my soul. It's often a battle, a pleading with the One who is stronger to overthrow the attempts of enemy forces to thwart His plans for my brothers' lives, a blatant defiance towards the lies that either say there's no hope or that the place they're at is "good enough" when God's still got bigger plans for them.
Because no matter how far any of my brothers have come, the fact they're still breathing means their purpose on this earth is not finished yet. I've been blessed to the point of awe to see God answer prayers that asked Him to do more than I knew to ask in brothers' lives. There are deeper and greater and harder and more glorious things ahead.
So bros, whether I've tossed a football or a frisbee with you, played tag or "dogs" or Jedis or Nintendo with you when we were younger, worked with you, or just talked with you; whether I've known you for a month or a decade (or more)...chances are, I've prayed for you (for the vast majority of you, it's been too many times to count). And it's not that I don't pray for my sisters; but there's something that kicks into gear when it comes to praying for my brothers that's incredibly hard to describe. I want to see each of you become all you can be, but even as you are every single one of you has blessed my life in one way or another.
So run hard. Love deeply. Surrender recklessly. Look up.
God's plans for you are better than I can know, but I'll keep looking for glimpses of them. And I won't stop praying for you.
Rak khazak!
-Kala
Showing posts with label pray bigger. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pray bigger. Show all posts
Friday, May 9, 2014
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Pray Bigger.
God's been bringing something to my attention lately. It's something He's shown me before, only this time He's being even more specific...
He's been showing me I've once again fallen into a habit of looking at the people in the world around me, and focusing on the need rather than the Answer to that need. I've been feeling overwhelmed by the magnitude of what needs to change in so many hearts and lives, if my generation is truly going to see any true, noticeable advancement of the Gospel and the Kingdom of God.
When I started college last Fall, before long I started feeling sort of like Elijah in 1 Kings 19 when he cried out to God saying he was the last of those that followed the LORD in Israel. It wasn't quite that extreme, I knew, because I have been blessed with many brothers and sisters in different parts of the country and the world who are passionately and wholeheartedly pursuing and living for Christ. But at college, I started feeling sort of like part of a dying breed, like I was one of the only people whose heart was broken over certain things I was seeing around me. But just as He did to Elijah, God spoke to me and reminded me of His great power. He told Elijah He still had seven thousand in Israel that had not bowed their knees to Baal, and in much the same way He reminded me of something He gave me a glimpse of a vision for several years ago. He wants to move mightily in my generation. He plans to. Even now, He is raising up saints and soldiers who will surrender their lives to Him and give themselves to advance His Kingdom and glory in this earth. Funny how I can forget that sometimes.
That season of broken-heartedness during my first semester was followed by one of worshipful, deeper discoveries of who God is and how infinitely big He is, how almighty and awesome. This is the God who has pulled off the impossible again and again throughout human history. Is anything too hard for Him?
Yet somehow, as humans we have this tendency at times to let our focus shift from our great God to all the mountains around us that must be moved. We forget Who must move those mountains, and begin to feel very small and incapable, to realize the utter impossibility of the task. But even though God could just pick up those mountains and toss them into the sea with less effort than it takes you or I to blink, He has chosen to work through the people He calls His own, through a very unique tool known as faith. Remember? Jesus said that faith the size of a mustard seed is enough to tell a mountain to move, and it would be moved. Is that a result of our faith--or of the One in whom our faith is placed?
Lately I've been struck by the sheer magnitude of the things that need to be overcome in my city, in America, in the world, and in the Church. I don't know why, but for some reason I've just never realized either the number of people involved or the level of delusion that has overcome so many. And once again, I started to feel like it's pretty impossible to hope for much to change for the better in this world we live in.
But then, God started reminding me of some things again... He brought up some specific memories of times He's very clearly spoken to me, or just filled me with hope and expectancy for things that, apart from Him, truly are impossible. And He aimed a rather pointed question/charge at my heart. He convicted me of not praying big enough. Of limiting my requests to the One who alone is the very Source of all power and grace. Of somehow thinking I could only pray for the small things, or that the small things were big enough.
Several years ago, God challenged me to dream bigger. It came after all my plans for my future had crumbled into dust, and for some time I had been utterly clueless as to what I wanted to be when I grew up, what I was going to do with my life. I had given up the goals I had set for myself for so long, and without them I literally had no clue what my life would look like after high school and college. Before God turned my world upside down, my dreams (in hindsight) were pretty mediocre and dull. I wanted to be a veterinarian, which I might've enjoyed to some extent, and have a husband, kids, pets, a house, etc. All the usual stuff. My idea for my future was puny, insignificant, and hollow. It was successful, perhaps, in the eyes of the world, but it lacked a driving purpose other than doing what I wanted to do in working with animals. I had let that dream go, but didn't know what to replace it with.
And that's when God told me to dream bigger. He challenged me to aim for a life filled with purpose--the very purpose I was created for, to glorify Him. Slowly, He started highlighting some areas He had gifted and called me in--most of them things I had only begun to discover after the old vision had been given up. I still had no clue what it was going to look like; I just knew some of what it would involve.
Now, revisiting that memory and others, God's been asking me if I'm willing to really trust Him to do all the things I have asked Him for--particularly in regards to my city and my generation. And if I focus on the mountains of impossibility, my heart quails and wants to shy away from ever praying the bold prayers I know my King is asking of me. But that's not where my gaze should be.
In the words of Han Solo, "Never tell me the odds!" I don't care how impossible it seems to think that God could grip the hearts of an entire generation and change them, move on those hearts in such a way that the world cannot deny He is living and moving and having His being in them. He has given me a commission to pray for that, and I can much sooner bear the thought of asking Him for something this big, than the thought of holding back, of not trusting Him, and of someday realizing that the reason something didn't happen was because nobody had the guts to pray for it. "You have not, because you ask not" (James 4:2b).
"Lord, let us be a generation that seeks,
Seeks Your face, oh God of Jacob." -Kutless
May we come to the place of faith that C.T. Studd so poignantly described: "We will a thousand times sooner die trusting only our God, than live trusting in man." I'm not claiming that I've reached a point of utter confidence as to what God intends to do in my generation just yet--but I know I need to fight for it. I know I need to pray for greater faith, and to recklessly trust Him to do what only He can. I don't know what it will look like; but I know He is able. And when it comes down to it, that's all I really need to know.
My Hope Is in You.
He's been showing me I've once again fallen into a habit of looking at the people in the world around me, and focusing on the need rather than the Answer to that need. I've been feeling overwhelmed by the magnitude of what needs to change in so many hearts and lives, if my generation is truly going to see any true, noticeable advancement of the Gospel and the Kingdom of God.
When I started college last Fall, before long I started feeling sort of like Elijah in 1 Kings 19 when he cried out to God saying he was the last of those that followed the LORD in Israel. It wasn't quite that extreme, I knew, because I have been blessed with many brothers and sisters in different parts of the country and the world who are passionately and wholeheartedly pursuing and living for Christ. But at college, I started feeling sort of like part of a dying breed, like I was one of the only people whose heart was broken over certain things I was seeing around me. But just as He did to Elijah, God spoke to me and reminded me of His great power. He told Elijah He still had seven thousand in Israel that had not bowed their knees to Baal, and in much the same way He reminded me of something He gave me a glimpse of a vision for several years ago. He wants to move mightily in my generation. He plans to. Even now, He is raising up saints and soldiers who will surrender their lives to Him and give themselves to advance His Kingdom and glory in this earth. Funny how I can forget that sometimes.
That season of broken-heartedness during my first semester was followed by one of worshipful, deeper discoveries of who God is and how infinitely big He is, how almighty and awesome. This is the God who has pulled off the impossible again and again throughout human history. Is anything too hard for Him?
Yet somehow, as humans we have this tendency at times to let our focus shift from our great God to all the mountains around us that must be moved. We forget Who must move those mountains, and begin to feel very small and incapable, to realize the utter impossibility of the task. But even though God could just pick up those mountains and toss them into the sea with less effort than it takes you or I to blink, He has chosen to work through the people He calls His own, through a very unique tool known as faith. Remember? Jesus said that faith the size of a mustard seed is enough to tell a mountain to move, and it would be moved. Is that a result of our faith--or of the One in whom our faith is placed?
Lately I've been struck by the sheer magnitude of the things that need to be overcome in my city, in America, in the world, and in the Church. I don't know why, but for some reason I've just never realized either the number of people involved or the level of delusion that has overcome so many. And once again, I started to feel like it's pretty impossible to hope for much to change for the better in this world we live in.
But then, God started reminding me of some things again... He brought up some specific memories of times He's very clearly spoken to me, or just filled me with hope and expectancy for things that, apart from Him, truly are impossible. And He aimed a rather pointed question/charge at my heart. He convicted me of not praying big enough. Of limiting my requests to the One who alone is the very Source of all power and grace. Of somehow thinking I could only pray for the small things, or that the small things were big enough.
Several years ago, God challenged me to dream bigger. It came after all my plans for my future had crumbled into dust, and for some time I had been utterly clueless as to what I wanted to be when I grew up, what I was going to do with my life. I had given up the goals I had set for myself for so long, and without them I literally had no clue what my life would look like after high school and college. Before God turned my world upside down, my dreams (in hindsight) were pretty mediocre and dull. I wanted to be a veterinarian, which I might've enjoyed to some extent, and have a husband, kids, pets, a house, etc. All the usual stuff. My idea for my future was puny, insignificant, and hollow. It was successful, perhaps, in the eyes of the world, but it lacked a driving purpose other than doing what I wanted to do in working with animals. I had let that dream go, but didn't know what to replace it with.
And that's when God told me to dream bigger. He challenged me to aim for a life filled with purpose--the very purpose I was created for, to glorify Him. Slowly, He started highlighting some areas He had gifted and called me in--most of them things I had only begun to discover after the old vision had been given up. I still had no clue what it was going to look like; I just knew some of what it would involve.
Now, revisiting that memory and others, God's been asking me if I'm willing to really trust Him to do all the things I have asked Him for--particularly in regards to my city and my generation. And if I focus on the mountains of impossibility, my heart quails and wants to shy away from ever praying the bold prayers I know my King is asking of me. But that's not where my gaze should be.
"Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for Me?"
-Jeremiah 32:27
"What shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?"
-Romans 8:31
"Lord, let us be a generation that seeks,
Seeks Your face, oh God of Jacob." -Kutless
May we come to the place of faith that C.T. Studd so poignantly described: "We will a thousand times sooner die trusting only our God, than live trusting in man." I'm not claiming that I've reached a point of utter confidence as to what God intends to do in my generation just yet--but I know I need to fight for it. I know I need to pray for greater faith, and to recklessly trust Him to do what only He can. I don't know what it will look like; but I know He is able. And when it comes down to it, that's all I really need to know.
My Hope Is in You.
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